Carnival Cruise Lines today unveiled a new program that offers consumers a money-back guarantee when booking a Carnival cruise vacation. Designed to provide consumers with complete peace of mind, the "Great Vacation Guarantee" allows guests to end their voyage early and receive a 110 percent refund plus complimentary transportation home, along with a $100 shipboard credit for a future cruise, should they be dissatisfied with their cruise for any reason.

"We are proud to carry nearly 4.5 million satisfied guests each year and are very confident in the quality of the vacation experience we provide on board the 24 ships of Carnival Cruise Lines," said Gerry Cahill, Carnival president and CEO. "The 'Great Vacation Guarantee' is designed to provide an assurance to those consumers who may be considering a cruise that we stand behind our product and, if they are dissatisfied for any reason, they have a simple and hassle-free means for receiving a full refund and more."

To exercise the "Great Vacation Guarantee," guests simply notify the ship's guest services desk within the first 24 hours of the voyage to receive a full refund of their cruise fare plus an additional 10 percent, along with complimentary return air transportation from the next port of call, and complimentary ground transportation and hotel accommodations (if necessary), along with a $100 shipboard credit to be used on a future Carnival cruise. Carnival will fully handle all the necessary travel arrangements to make it a truly hassle-free experience.

The "Great Vacation Guarantee" is valid on all three- to eight-day voyages to The Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexican Riviera, Alaska, Canada and New England departing through April 30, 2015. The program applies to U.S. and Canadian residents only and guests must possess a valid passport to return to the U.S. by air.

quote:

---

Originally posted by LeBarryboat:
Carnival already put into motion this Guarantee, years ago. My question to CT people here is what would be the perfect loyalty program for Carnival, that would lure you back time nd time again?

---

I have sailed with Carnival 34 times for 243 cruise days. I have not cruised with them since March of 2010. Carnival does not necessarily need to add loyalty perks - but they need to follow the loyalty program and listen to feedback for loyal past passengers. The reason I have not cruised with them for so long is twofold.

1) On my last sailing - March 22, 2010 on the Carnival Destiny's 5 day Eastern Caribbean cruise I basically did not receive any of the onboard perks of being a Platinum member (highest level of their loyalty program at that time). The only perk that was done 100% right was VIP check in. The only perk that was 50% done right was the invitation to the past guest party. During the party I asked 6 members of the bar staff for a glass of pop and ended up with nothing to drink. The rest of the perks I did not receive. This includes things like the ship pin, gift (at that time I believe the picture frame), no bag for free laundry service, no priority tendering at Half Moon Cay, and no priority debarkation.

I have made Carnival aware of what happened at least 5 times. On each occasion there reply has been "Based upon your sailing history you should have received the perks. Since you did not receive the perks I will forward your comments to the appropriate people." I have never heard anything back from any of the "appropriate people" . Carnival has not offered to do anything to make up for not following the loyalty program.

2) On my last 19 sailings I have had a difficult to impossible time getting a glass of pop at the VIP / past guest party and (when they still had) the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party. In order to get a pop I have had to ask at least 4 members of the bar staff. There has been at least a dozen party's when I was unable to get anything to drink. I have made Carnival aware of this but they are either unable or unwilling to make pop readily available.

On three of the sailings I turned a note in at guest services / pursers information desk. One of the times the reply I received was a 4 sentence generic letter. The other 2 times I never received any type of reply - no letter, phone call, and was not paged to call or stop at guest services.

On all 19 of the sailings I left a note on my comment card about repeatedly having problems getting pop at the party's. On my last 32 sailings at the debarkation talk the cruise director not only said that the notes on comment cards are read but they are taken seriously. It appears that the notes are either not read or they are not taken as seriously as the cruise directors say they are.

After each of the sailings I have sent either a e-mail or letter to guest care / guest relations. On 17 occasions I received a 4 sentence generic letter anywhere for 2 to 3 months later from someone who is a "Special Advisor - Office of the President". On the 2 occasions when I received a true reply I was told that my comments would be passed onto the "appropriate people" who would make sure that pop is readily available at the party's.

[ 09-20-2013: Message edited by: Chip ]

Yeah i'm not joking, the balcony consisted of a piece of metal maybe 24 inches square, the rest was taken up by a stairway going past the bedroom window.

The wife and I would have walked off the ship, but we had a group of friends with us who had flown into the UK.

Carnival blew us off, both on board and from corporate, a friend of ours in the media ended up getting involved, I had had enough, but I guess having one of the countries biggest travel writers on your case made Carnival see the light, in the end we got a very nice future cruise credit.

I should also point out, that we had one of the best wait teams I have ever seen on that cruise and I made sure to point that out to Carnival as well.

Back to the topic at hand, yes Carnival has had in place pretty much the same guarantee, I have been forced to threaten to use it one time and Carnival fell over themselves to fix the situation, after trying to tell me that there was not in fact something hitting the side of the hull creating a very loud banging noise next to our cabin...Yes not only am I blind, I also hear things.

[ 09-29-2013: Message edited by: jetwet1 ]